Story+2009-11-20+Baltimore,+MD

“My home is in the Meadowlands…but tonight Baltimore is going up in flames (crowd cheers) here where the blood is spilled, the arena is filled and the Legends play the game (crowd cheers)…”
 * 20.11.09 Baltimore, MD, middle of “Wrecking Ball”**

“Good evening, O-Maryland! (crowd cheers) I’m so glad to be here in your beautiful city tonight (crowd cheers) let me see all the beautiful faces out there tonight (crowd cheers) that’s right, and the mighty E Street Band has come thousands of miles…all the way here to be in Baltimore tonight to fulfil our solemn vow to rock the house! (crowd cheers) but we don’t come all this way, all these nights, all these years, all these shows just to rock the house, we come out here night after night to build a house right here (crowd cheers) we’re gonna build one in Baltimore tonight (crowd cheers) we’re gonna build a house out of spirit and out of Baltimore soul and out of music and out of noise…now the mighty E Street Band is here and we’re gonna bring down the music on you…but, Maryland, we…need…you…to… bring…the…noise (crowd cheers) bring it on! (crowd cheers) bring it on! (crowd cheers) alright, sing it like you mean it…”
 * 20.11.09 Baltimore, MD, middle of “Working on a Dream”**

“Good evening (crowd cheers) and thank you for coming to our show tonight (crowd cheers) we’ve, uh, we haven’t played here since, uh…1973, I think (crowd cheers) we opened up for Chicago …and I think it cost two bucks to get in (laughs from the crowd) I remember this: we came out and we only played a half-hour, played five songs and some guy I think yelled at me, yelled at me “Hey, man, we didn’t come here to see you!” (laughs from the crowd) and “Oh yeah? Well, the next time you do, it’s gonna cost you five dollars!” (laughs from the crowd) that’s right, five dollars! (chuckles) but, but, uh…it’s great to be back in Baltimore (crowd cheers) and, uh…this is our next to very last, very last night so it’s a special night, we’ve started with the Magic-tour in October 2007 and we’ve had a lot of great times and a lot of adventures and a lot of fun looking into your faces every night and uh…we were trying to think of something to make the end of our tour a little bit special so we’ve been playing some of our albums (crowd cheers) it’s been a lot of fun, you know, you forget that, you know, so many of our fans really experienced our music in album-length and, uh, it was the way it first made its impression on you and also, you know, we, uh, let me see, we’ve played “Darkness,” we’ve played “Born in the U.S.A,” we’ve played “The Wild and the Innocent,” we played “The River” one night, uh (crowd cheers) but tonight (crowd cheers) tonight (crowd cheers) this is a record that started a lifelong conversation between you and me (crowd cheers) that’s right, if you remember it: shout…here we go (crowd cheers)…”
 * 20.11.09 Baltimore, MD, intro to “Thunder Road”**

“Till the end…till the end…till the end…just me and you, baby…just me and you, darling…until the end…(sings wordlessly)…sssh…come a little bit closer…like an angel on my chest…like an angel on my chest…like an angel on my chest…”
 * 20.11.09 Baltimore, MD, middle of “Backstreets”**

“(Crowd cheers) ”Born to Run” for the last time (crowd cheers) these are the guys that made the record (crowd cheers) produced by Jon Landau – he’s in the room tonight (crowd cheers) and, of course, Phantom Dan Federici (crowd cheers)…”
 * 20.11.09 Baltimore, MD, after “Jungleland”**

“For you, in honor of this hat, in honor of this hat, this song...” [According to Backstreets, there was a girl in a newsboy cap in the crowd.]
 * 20.11.09 Baltimore, MD, intro to “Spirit in the Night”**

“Thank you for the loan of that lovely hat (crowd cheers)…oh, let me see some signs out here…throw me some lights up…a little “Green Onions,” everybody, key of “E”…”
 * 20.11.09 Baltimore, MD, intro to “Green Onions” (following “Spirit in the Night”**

“Are you ready, Baltimore? (crowd cheers) has everybody been good? (crowd cheers) so, so good? (crowd cheers)…”
 * 20.11.09 Baltimore, MD, middle of “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”**

“Now there’s just one song missing: “E Street…Shuffle!” (crowd cheers)…”
 * 20.11.09 Baltimore, MD, intro to “The E Street Shuffle”**

“This is dangerous ground over here…I only semi-know what I’m doing…(tries out the keys)…oh yeah…better tighten this up, boys… thank you…”
 * 20.11.09 Baltimore, MD, intro to “For You”**

“One of the things we’ve been enjoying on this tour a lot is all the little kids that are out there (chuckles) nice to see, uh, all those young faces (?) “Dear Bruce, forget Radio Disney” – that’s right… then into the realm of Disneyland characters (chuckles) “I’d rather listen to Radio Nowhere – I’m alive out here!” (crowd cheers)…”
 * 20.11.09 Baltimore, MD, intro to “Radio Nowhere”**

“There’s a lovely young lady out there and her request is…oh!... let’s get that thing on, Stevie!... (…) Bring that thing a little closer now, baby…I said bring that thing a little closer…because I wanna ramrod…”
 * 20.11.09 Baltimore, MD, intro to “Ramrod”**

“Yes, yes, woo!...thank you, thank you for coming out to the show tonight (crowd cheers) thank you for supporting us in our music… we’re shutting down for a while but we will see you in the future further on up the road ‘cause we have miles to go before we sleep (crowd cheers) that’s right…woo!...we got some friends in the hall tonight, folks from Maryland Foodbank…for over thirty years the Maryland Foodbank’s collected surplus food from farmers, manufacturers, restaurants to feed struggling citizens here in the Maryland area, last year they distributed more than 18.6 million pounds of food to the hungry right here in Maryland, all you have to is pick up the newspapers and see how hard times have hit so many Americans, you see the rising, rising, rising of unemployment, so many folks out of work, folks who’ve previously had a hold on the middle class slipping through, grassroots organizations like the Maryland Foodbank very often the only thing that stands between kids going to bed hungry at night or with something in their bellies, these organizations are becoming increasingly important, the demand is going through the roof in recent years, please support your fellow citizens, support the Maryland Foodbank (crowd cheers) they are on the frontlines doing God’s work…we’re gonna send this one out to them, it was written in 1855…it’s called “Hard times come again no more”…”
 * 20.11.09 Baltimore, MD, intro to “Hard Times”**

“Thank you, Maryland, for coming out to the show (crowd cheers)… (…) Little Steven (crowd cheers) Curt Ramm (crowd cheers) Curtis King (crowd cheers) Sister Soozie Tyrell (crowd cheers) Garry W. Tallent (crowd cheers) the Mighty, Mighty Max Weinberg (crowd cheers) the lovely and talented Max’s daughter, Ali Weinberg (crowd cheers) Professor Roy Bittan (crowd cheers) Charlie Giordano (crowd cheers) Cindy Mizelle (crowd cheers) one of the greatest guitarists in the world, Nils Lofgren (crowd cheers) saxophonist…libertine…author…man of letters…he’s bigger than Shakespeare…his book is better than the, uh, the Bible, the biggest man you’ve ever seen, Clarence “Big Man” Clemons (crowd cheers) Baltimore! (crowd cheers) Baltimore! (crowd cheers) Baltimore! (crowd cheers) Maryland! (crowd cheers) Maryland! (crowd cheers) Maryland! (crowd cheers) you’ve just seen the heart-stopping, pants-dropping, hard-rocking, earth-shocking, booty-shaking, love-making, Viagra-taking, history-making, legendary (crowd: “E Street Band”)(crowd cheers)...”
 * 20.11.09 Baltimore, MD, intro to “American Land”**

“Can we take this thing a little higher? (some cheers) I need to hear commitment out there (crowd cheers) can we take this thing a little higher? (crowd cheers) higher!...higher! (crowd cheers)…”
 * 20.11.09 Baltimore, MD, intro to “Higher and Higher”**

“The mighty E Street Band! (crowd cheers) we love you, we’ll be seeing you up the road (crowd cheers)…”
 * 20.11.09 Baltimore, MD, after “Higher and Higher”**

“Well, we ain’t in no rush…alright…come on, band… (…) Oh, let’s take this thing home, Steve (Steve: “I don’t know, baby, I don’t wanna go home”) come on, band, come take this thing home (Steve: “I don’t wanna go home”) are you with me? (Steve: “I don’t know”) is the band with me?...are the people with me? (crowd cheers)…”
 * 20.11.09 Baltimore, MD, intro to “Glory Days”**

//Compiled by Johanna Pirttijärvi//